"Congress’ investigative arm says the polar ships may take longer to build and cost more than expected. But pushing the project off could be a bigger problem."
"As the Coast Guard and Navy prepare to invest nearly $10 billion in new heavy polar icebreakers, the Government Accountability Office has found problems in key areas of the plan, which it warns could put the program at risk of failure.
In a report released Tuesday, the GAO said the Coast Guard "did not have a sound business case" and may have underestimated both the costs and the amount of time it would take to deliver the ships. Those shortcomings could pose significant risk to the program's success and to the United States' presence at the poles, considering the U.S. icebreaker fleet is already on borrowed time, with just one heavy polar icebreaker that is years past its projected lifespan.
The report could strike a blow at the progress being made toward acquiring new ships—a decades-long effort that is becoming increasingly important for both security and science as global temperatures rise."
Sabrina Shankman reports for InsideClimate News September 6, 2018.
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